Nicole Malachowski

Nicole Malachowski
Born (1974-09-26) 26 September 1974 (age 50)
Allegiance United States
Service / branch United States Air Force
Years of service1996–2017
Rank Colonel
Commands333d Fighter Squadron
Battles / wars
Awards

Nicole Margaret Ellingwood Malachowski[3] (born 26 September 1974) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer and the first female pilot selected to fly as part of the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Thunderbirds.[4] She later became a speaker and advocate on behalf of patients with tick-borne illnesses.[5][6]

Malachowski was a Civil Air Patrol cadet before she entered the United States Air Force Academy in 1992. She was commissioned as a second lieutenant upon graduation in 1996. Her first public performance with the Thunderbirds was in March 2006, and her aviator call sign was "FiFi".[7] She spent the 2006 and 2007 air show seasons flying the Number 3 (right wing) aircraft in the diamond formation. Between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009, Malachowski was on special assignment, participating in the White House Fellows Program for the Class of 2008–2009, assigned to the General Services Administration.[8] In 2011, she took command of the 333d Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. In September 2015, she returned to the White House to become the executive director of its Joining Forces initiative for supporting veterans, service members, and military families.[9] She was medically retired from the USAF in 2017 after attaining the rank of colonel. In 2019, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[10]

  1. ^ a b c "Joining Forces Announces New Executive Director". whitehouse.gov. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2020 – via National Archives.
  2. ^ a b c d "Wing honors first female Thunderbird pilot". Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. 13 March 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Class of 2008" (PDF). American Military University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  4. ^ "Nicole Malachowski". Allied Forces Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Report of the Access to Care Services and Support to Patients Subcommittee to the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group". HHS.gov. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference wsjm1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Major Nicole Malachowski and Major Samantha Weeks", Woman Pilot website, 2 April 2008, archived from the original on 23 April 2008, retrieved 22 April 2020, A graduate of the Air Force Academy, she has been an Air Force officer for 11 years, a fighter pilot in the F-15E for 8 years, and a pilot with the Thunderbirds for 18 months. She's married to an F-15E WSO, Her call sign is "FiFi".
  8. ^ "Nicole M. Malachowski". Veterans Tributes. Archived from the original on 25 November 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  9. ^ Shane III, Leo (7 October 2015). "Joining Forces' new leader has cockpit, White House experience". Military Times. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  10. ^ "National Women's Hall of Fame announces Class of 2019". AP News. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2020.